Inbound calls to intelligent controlled-environment facility resident media and/or communications devices

ABSTRACT

Inbound call processing systems and methods for processing inbound calls to controlled-environment facility resident media and/or communications devices employ an inbound resident call server configured to host inbound calling accounts established by non-residents, receive inbound calls from the non-residents, route the inbound calls to an authenticating server, confirm that the resident device is active, and connect the inbound resident call system with the resident device if active or inform the non-resident the resident is not available if not. The inbound resident call server also connects the non-resident inbound call with the resident device if the non-resident is associated with the inbound calling account, the inbound calling account is associated with an address identifier of the resident device and the resident&#39;s personal identification number is associated with the address identifier of the resident device, all of which may be authenticated by the authenticating server.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This is a continuation-in-part of, and claims benefit of, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/682,523, also entitled “Inbound Calls toIntelligent Controlled-Environment Facility Resident Media and/orCommunications Devices”, filed Aug. 21, 2017, and therethrough claimsbenefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/238,411, also entitled“Inbound Calls to Intelligent Controlled-Environment Facility ResidentMedia and/or Communications Devices,” filed Aug. 16, 2016 and issued asU.S. Pat. No. 9,742,910 on Aug. 22, 2017, and therethrough claimsbenefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/872,953, also entitled“Inbound Calls to Intelligent Controlled-Environment Facility ResidentMedia and/or Communications Devices”, filed Oct. 1, 2015 and issued asU.S. Pat. No. 9,420,094 on Aug. 16, 2016, all of which are herebyincorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to controlled-environmentfacilities, more particularly to communications with residents ofcontrolled-environment facilities, and specifically to inbound phone andvideo calls to intelligent controlled-environment facility residentmedia and/or communications devices.

BACKGROUND

According to the International Centre for Prison Studies, the UnitedStates has the highest prison population per capita in the world. In2009, for example, 1 out of every 135 U.S. residents was incarcerated.Generally, inmates convicted of felony offenses serve long sentences inprison (e.g., federal or state prisons), whereas those convicted ofmisdemeanors receive shorter sentences to be served in jail (e.g.,county jail). In either case, while awaiting trial, a suspect or accusedmay remain incarcerated. During his or her incarceration, an inmate mayhave opportunities to communicate with the outside world.

By allowing prisoners to have some contact with friends and family whileincarcerated, the justice system aims to facilitate their transitionback into society upon release. Traditional forms of contact includetelephone calls, in-person visitation, conjugal visits, etc. Morerecently, technological advances have allowed jails and prisons toprovide other types of visitation, including individual-to-individualvideoconferences and online chat sessions.

Traditional communication services provide residents (inmates) ofcontrolled-environment facilities (such as correctional facilities) theability to place outbound phone calls to non-residents of thecontrolled-environment facility. Additionally, non-residents cantypically schedule video visitation with residents (inmates) of thecontrolled-environment facility. Other types of communication availableto controlled-environment residents include the ability to exchangeemail and canned text messages between residents and non-residents ofthe controlled-environment facility. Basically, all of these forms ofcommunication aim to facilitate communication between a resident of acontrolled-environment facility and a non-resident.

Additionally, over the past several years, the above-mentioned sharpincrease in the U.S. inmate population has not been followed by aproportional increase in the number of prison or jail staff. To thecontrary, budget pressures in local, state, and federal governments havemade it difficult for correctional facilities to maintain an adequatenumber of wardens, officers, and other administration personnel. Hence,many correctional facilities are often unable to perform investigationswith respect to their own inmates.

SUMMARY

The present invention is directed to systems and methods, which providehandling of inbound of calls to resident (e.g. inmate) media and/orcommunications devices. Such a system may include an inbound residentcall server, an authenticating server, and/or the like. Theauthenticating server may be a part of the inbound resident call server,or the like, in some implementations.

The inbound resident call server may be adapted to host inbound callingaccounts established by non-residents and receive inbound calls fromsuch non-residents. The inbound calls may be routed to theauthenticating server by the inbound resident call server. Theauthenticating server may be adapted to authenticate that a non-residentis associated with an inbound calling account and confirm that theinbound calling account is associated with an address identifier of theresident media and/or communications device the non-resident is calling.The authenticating server may also receive, such as via the calledresident media and/or communications device, a personal identificationnumber associated with the resident the inbound call is directed to andmay verify that the personal identification number is associated withthe address identifier of the resident media and/or communicationsdevice. The inbound resident call server may also confirm that theresident media and/or communications device is active and connect theinbound resident call system with the resident media and/orcommunications device in response to confirming that the resident mediaand/or communications device is active, or alternatively, inform thenon-resident the resident is not available for the inbound call inresponse to failure to confirm that the resident media and/orcommunications device is active. Thereupon, the inbound resident callserver may connect the non-resident inbound call with the resident mediaand/or communications device, such as, as a result of the authenticatingserver authenticating that the non-resident is associated with theinbound calling account, confirming that the inbound calling account isassociated with an address identifier of the resident media and/orcommunications device and verifying that the personal identificationnumber is associated with the address identifier of the resident mediaand/or communications device.

In some implementations the inbound call from the non-resident may bedirected to the resident media and/or communications device and theinbound resident call server may, in such cases intercept the inboundcall. Additionally, or alternatively, the inbound resident call server,or the like may host a central phone number for calls directed toresident media and/or communications devices, and in suchimplementations inbound calls from non-residents may be directed to thecentral phone number and the inbound resident call server may acceptrequests from non-residents for calls into residents and/or morespecifically into a particular resident's media and/or communicationsdevice.

Various other features provided in accordance with assortedimplementations of the present systems and methods may include thefollowing. A flat fee or time-based fee may be charged for the inboundcall and/or a subscription fee may (periodically) be charged followingestablishment of the inbound calling account for the non-resident, suchas from an inbound calling account of the non-resident. The inbound callmay be monitored, such as for impermissible activity, keywords, or thelike. The inbound call may also be tracked and/or recorded, andresulting recordings may be stored (and tracked). Also, a determinationmay be made as to whether the non-resident is on a personal allowednumber list and/or a pre-approved contact list associated with theresident associated with the resident and/or the called media and/orcommunications device.

In various embodiments, one or more of the techniques described hereinmay be performed by one or more computer systems. In other variousembodiments, a tangible computer-readable storage medium may haveprogram instructions stored thereon that, upon execution by one or morecomputer systems, cause the one or more computer systems to execute oneor more operations disclosed herein. In yet other various embodiments,one or more systems may each include at least one processor and memorycoupled to the processor(s), wherein the memory is configured to storeprogram instructions executable by the processor(s) to cause thesystem(s) to execute one or more operations disclosed herein.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technicaladvantages of the present invention in order that the detaileddescription of the invention that follows may be better understood.Additional features and advantages of the invention will be describedhereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. Itshould be appreciated that the conception and specific embodimentdisclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designingother structures for carrying out the same purposes of the presentinvention. It should also be realized that such equivalent constructionsdo not depart from the invention as set forth in the appended claims.The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of theinvention, both as to its organization and method of operation, togetherwith further objects and advantages will be better understood from thefollowing description when considered in connection with theaccompanying figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, thateach of the figures is provided for the purpose of illustration anddescription only and is not intended as a definition of the limits ofthe present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Having thus described the invention in general terms, reference will nowbe made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn toscale, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of an example communicationsenvironment, wherein an example of embodiments of the present systemsand methods for inbound calls to intelligent controlled-environmentfacility resident media and/or communications devices may be practiced,according to some embodiments;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an example process for inbound calling tointelligent controlled-environment facility resident media and/orcommunications devices, in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of another implementation of an example processfor inbound calling to intelligent controlled-environment facilityresident media and/or communications devices, in accordance with someembodiments; and

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a computer system, device, station, orterminal configured to implement various techniques disclosed herein,according to some embodiments.

While this specification provides several embodiments and illustrativedrawings, a person of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that thepresent specification is not limited only to the embodiments or drawingsdescribed. It should be understood that the drawings and detaileddescription are not intended to limit the specification to theparticular form disclosed, but, on the contrary, the intention is tocover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within thespirit and scope of the claims. As used herein, the word “may” is meantto convey a permissive sense (i.e., meaning “having the potential to”),rather than a mandatory sense (i.e., meaning “must”). Similarly, thewords “include,” “including,” and “includes” mean “including, but notlimited to.”

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention now will be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings. This invention may, however, beembodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limitedto the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments areprovided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and willfully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Oneskilled in the art may be able to use the various embodiments of theinvention.

For example, various types of controlled-environment facilities arepresent in today's society, and persons may be voluntary or involuntaryresidents of such facilities, whether temporarily or permanently.Examples of controlled-environment facilities may include correctionalinstitutions (e.g., municipal jails, county jails, state prisons,federal prisons, military stockades, juvenile facilities, detentioncamps, home incarceration environments, etc.), healthcare facilities(e.g., hospitals, nursing homes, mental health facilities,rehabilitation facilities, such as drug and alcohol rehabilitationfacilities, etc.), restricted living quarters (e.g., hotels, resorts,camps, dormitories, barracks, etc.), and the like. For convenience ofexplanation, various examples discussed herein are presented in thecontext of correctional facilities, or the like. For instance, in someof the embodiments discussed below, a controlled-environment facilitymay be referred to as a correctional facility, jail or prison, and itsresidents may be referred to as inmates, arrestees, or detainees. Itshould be understood, however, that the systems and methods describedherein may be similarly applicable to other types ofcontrolled-environment facilities and their respective residents (e.g.,a hospital and its patients, a school dormitory and its students, etc.).

In the law enforcement context, when an individual is detained orarrested and held in a controlled environment facility, the personalpossessions of the individual, such as wallets, purses, personalelectronics, and jewelry, may be seized by law enforcement personnel. Inmany scenarios, most personal possessions are prohibited within acontrolled environment facility. As such, while an individual is aresident of the controlled environment facility, any personalpossessions that have been seized are held for safekeeping by thecontrolled environment facility or transferred to friends and/or familymembers of the individual being incarcerated or detained. A mobile phonedevice is one type of personal electronic device that may be seized froman individual that is being arrested or detained.

Although a resident of a controlled environment facility may be strictlyprohibited from having or using devices such as a mobile phone device,embodiments provide a capability by which the resident may retainlimited use of the communication services provided using a mobile phonedevice. As described, in certain scenarios, a mobile phone may be seizedfrom a resident during their arrest and/or detainment. Even though aresident in such scenarios is prohibited from actually using a seizedmobile phone device, the resident may retain authorization to modify thecommunication services associated with a seized mobile phone. In variousembodiments, a resident may authorize the redirection of communicationsfrom the phone number of the seized mobile phone to a resident's inboundcalling account that is provided by the controlled environment facility.

In other scenarios, rather than utilize a seized mobile phone device,friends and family members of the resident may provide a mobile phonedevice for use by the resident according to the embodiments presentedherein. The provided mobile phone device may be a device used by theresident prior to their incarceration or detainment or the providedmobile phone may be a device that is new to the resident and has beenprocured on their behalf In various embodiments, a resident may provideauthorization for calls to the phone number of the provided mobile phonedevice to be redirected to the resident's inbound calling account.

In other scenarios, rather than providing a physical mobile phonedevice, friends and family members of the resident may instead provideonly a calling account for use by the resident, where the callingaccount has an assigned phone number at which calls may be received. Insuch scenarios, the calling account may be provided by a Voice-over-IP(VoIP) provider and may be associated with a phone number, but may beprovided without association to any particular device. In variousembodiments, a resident may provide authorization for calls to the phonenumber of such a calling account to be redirected to the resident'sinbound calling account.

The present systems and methods relate generally tocontrolled-environment facilities, more particularly to communicationswith residents of controlled-environment facilities, and specifically toinbound phone and video calls to intelligent controlled-environmentfacility resident media and/or communications devices. Embodiments ofthe present systems and methods for processing inbound calls to residentmedia and/or communications devices may employ an inbound resident callserver configured to host inbound calling accounts established bynon-residents, receive inbound calls from the non-residents, route theinbound calls to an authenticating server, confirm that the residentdevice is active, and connect the inbound resident call system with theresident device if active or inform the non-resident the resident is notavailable. The inbound resident call server also connects thenon-resident inbound call with the resident device if the non-residentis associated with the inbound calling account, the inbound callingaccount is associated with an address identifier of the resident device,and a personal identification number provided by the called resident isassociated with the address identifier of the resident device, all ofwhich may be authenticated by the authenticating server.

Controlled-environment facility calls have traditionally been outgoingonly, such as prepaid calls, collect calls or calls made by residentspaid for using a trust account maintained to the benefit of theresident. Inbound calls to residents have here-to-fore not been allowedor have been impractical. For example, inbound calls to a correctionalfacility wall-mounted, table top, roll around, or similar phone ininmate housing areas (i.e. the phones inmates have traditionally used toplace outbound calls, such as via an interactive voice response system(IVR)) cannot be properly directed to the intended inmate, since thephone may be answered by any inmate, who may not cooperate, or may notbe able to cooperate, to get the intended inmate on the phone. However,controlled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevices, such as tablet computing devices, or the like, speciallyadapted and/or otherwise approved for use in the controlled-environmentfacility are capable of receiving inbound communications, such as via awireless network associated with the controlled-environment facility.

In accordance with embodiments of the present systems and methods, anon-resident can set-up inbound calling account, such as via a website,provide for payment, and place inbound calls to controlled-environmentfacility resident media and/or communications devices, such as residenttablets. Various embodiments of such systems and methods may accept aninbound call to an inbound controlled-environment facility residentmedia and/or communications device call server (or via a website). Wherethe inbound call is directed to a central number for calls directed tocontrolled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevices, the method may further comprise accepting a request from thenon-resident for a call into the resident and/or thecontrolled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevice. Various embodiments of the present systems and methods aredirected to allowing inbound calls to residents based on acontrolled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevice Address Identifier (AID), residents name and, in some embodimentsa resident-associated identification number.

In certain embodiments, a resident may authorize calls directed to anexternal phone number associated with the resident to be re-directed toa resident media and/or communications device that has been assigned tothe resident. As described, the external phone number may be a phonenumber associated with a seized mobile phone device, a mobile phonedevice provided on behalf of the resident, or a calling account throughwhich phone calls may be received. Upon the resident providingauthorization, calls dialing the external phone number associated withthe resident may be re-directed to an inbound calling account that hasbeen associated with an AID number of the resident media and/orcommunications device that has been assigned to the resident.

This AID number may be married to the call request in such embodimentsand the resident may accept a forwarded call by entering personalidentification number (PIN) and/or verifying authentication, such asthrough voice recognition, key pad, touchpad, fingerprint or otherbiometric, non-biometric, or other authentication methods. A PIN can beentered in any number of ways, which may incorporate biometricverification into the entering of the PIN itself. For example, the PINmay be entered using a touchscreen, such that fingerprint recognitioncan be used to verify the typer's identity. Alternatively (oradditionally) the PIN may be spoken to be entered, and while speechrecognition may be used to recognize the spoken numbers of the PIN,voice recognition may be used on the spoken PIN to verify the speaker'sidentity. Further, an image of the user may be captured during such PINentry and facial recognition may be used to (further) confirm theidentity of the user, such as for correlation with the PIN. Securitymeasures applied to inbound calls may include similarly use of voicerecognition (during the call) to ensure the tablet is not handed off toanother resident (or monitoring to see who the tablet is handed off to).Voice mail, and other call features may also be employed in conjunctionwith various embodiments of the present systems and methods.

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of an example communicationsenvironment, wherein example embodiments of the present systems andmethods for inbound phone or video calls to intelligentcontrolled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevices may be practiced, according to some embodiments. As shown,communication processing system 101 may provide telephone services,videoconferencing, online chat, and other communication services to acontrolled-environment facility. For example, in some cases,communication system 101 may be co-located with a controlled-environmentfacility. Alternatively, communication system 101 may be centrally orremotely located with respect to one or more controlled-environmentfacilities and/or may provide communication services to multiplecontrolled-environment facilities. More generally, however, it should benoted that communication system 101 may assume a variety of forms, andmay be configured to serve a variety of facilities and/or users, whetherwithin or outside of a controlled-environment facility.

In the context of a correctional facility, for instance, inmates may usetelephones 102 to access certain communication services. In somefacilities, inmates may also use a personal computer wireless device(104), referred to herein as a(n) (intelligent) controlled-environmentfacility resident media and/or communications device, an inmate mediaand/or communications device, or the like, to access such services. Forexample, an inmate may initiate telephone services by lifting thereceiver on telephone 102 or launching a communications applicationprogram (app) on inmate media and/or communications device 104, at whichtime the inmate may be prompted to provide a PIN, other identifyinginformation or biometrics. An interactive voice response (IVR) unit (notshown) may generate and play a prompt, send a text or other messages toinmates on devices 102 and/or 104.

Under the control of communication processing system 101, devices 102and 104 may be capable of connecting to a non-resident's (i.e., a personnot committed to a controlled-environment facility) device 105 ortelephone 106 across a publicly switched telephone network (PSTN) 107.For example, device 105 may be a mobile phone, whereas telephone 106 maybe located at a non-resident's home, inmate visitation center, etc.Switch 108 in communication processing system 101 may be used to connectcalls across PSTN 107. Additionally or alternatively, the non-residentmay be at telephone 109 or device 112, which is on an IntegratedServices Digital Network (ISDN), Voice-over-IP (VoIP), or packet datanetwork 110, such as, for example the Internet. Router 111 ofcommunication system 101 is used to route data packets associated with acall connection to destination telephone 109 or device 112.

Video visitation devices 103 may have video conferencing capabilities toenable inmates to participate in video visitation sessions withnon-residents of the correctional facility via video call, secure onlinechat, etc. For example, a non-resident party may have a personal orlaptop computer 113 with camera 114 (or a cell phone, tablet computer,etc.). Additionally or alternatively, device 112 may have an integratedcamera and display (e.g., a smart phone, tablet, etc.). A networkconnection between the parties may be established and supported by anorganization or commercial service that provides computer services andsoftware for use in telecommunications and/or VOIP, such as SKYPE®.Additionally or alternatively, the correctional facility and/or thedestination may use videoconferencing equipment compatible with ITUH.323, H.320, H.264, and/or V.80, or other suitable standards. Generallyspeaking, each video visitation device 103 may be disposed in avisitation room, in a pod, cell, etc.

In some embodiments, video visitation devices 103 may be implemented asa computer-based system. For example, each of video visitation devices103 may include a display, camera, and handset. The display may be anysuitable electronic display such as, for example, a Liquid CrystalDisplay (LCD), a touchscreen display (e.g., resistive, capacitive,etc.), or the like, whereas the camera may be any suitable imagingdevice such as, for instance, a video camera or webcam equipped withCharge-Coupled Devices (CCDs), Complementary Metal—Oxide—Semiconductor(CMOS) active pixel sensors, etc. A handset may be similar to atraditional telephone handset including an earpiece portion (with aloudspeaker), a handle portion, and a mouthpiece portion (with amicrophone).

During a video visitation session, video visitation devices 103 may beconfigured to capture a video image of an inmate to be transmitted to anon-resident using the camera, and to display a video image of thenon-resident to the inmate using the display. Video visitation devices103 may also be configured to capture an audio signal from the inmate tobe transmitted to a non-resident using the mouthpiece portion of thehandset, and to provide an audio signal from the non-resident to theinmate using the earpiece portion of the handset. Additionally oralternatively, audio received from the non-resident may be reproducedvia a loudspeaker, and audio provided by the inmate may be captured viaa microphone. In some cases, video visitation devices 103 may assume theform of any computer, tablet computer, smart phone, etc., or any otherconsumer device or appliance with videoconferencing capabilities.

Intelligent controlled-environment facility resident media and/orcommunications devices 104 may be tablet computing devices, smartphones,media players, or the like adapted and/or approved for use by residentsof the controlled-environment facility (within thecontrolled-environment facility). Each intelligentcontrolled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevice 104 may be particularly adapted for use in acontrolled-environment. For example, in a correctional institution,jail, or the like, such an intelligent controlled-environment facilityresident media and/or communications device, may have a speciallyadapted operating system and/or may be “stripped-down,” particularlyfrom the standpoint of what apps and/or hardware are provided or allowedon intelligent controlled-environment facility resident media and/orcommunications device 104, and/or connectivity afforded such a device.For example, such a device may employ an operating system kernel suchone based upon an open source platform such as the CyanogenMod-basedoperating system, which may be built for use in such a device in acontrolled-environment facility. As a further example, the intelligentcontrolled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevice may be adapted to only connect to a network provided by thecontrolled-environment facility, and/or in only certain locations,within the controlled-environment facility, such as may be controlled byavailability of Wi-Fi access, or the like, only being available incertain areas. That is, for example, where streaming and/or downloadingmay be compartmentalized, leveraging the structure of thecontrolled-environment facility, for example, limiting the availabilityof a Wi-Fi signal, providing the stream through the placement ofwireless access points, antenna directionality of such wireless accesspoints, and/or the like. Further, the intelligent controlled-environmentfacility resident media and/or communications device may allow access toapps or content only upon application of security measures, by thedevice. Such security measures may include determining, by the device,DNS spoofing, DNS redirection, use of proxy servers for privacy andsecurity, biometric validation, password validation, and/or the like.Also, in accordance with embodiments of the present systems and methods,the intelligent controlled-environment facility resident media and/orcommunications device may have a few fixed apps pre-installed on thedevice, and installation of further apps on the device may be forbidden(i.e. prevented by modifications to the device's operating system, orthe like) and/or restricted, such as by requiring permission from afacility administrator, or the like. Apps provided on intelligentcontrolled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevices might include apps of particular interest to residents of thecontrolled-environment facility. For example, such inmate media and/orcommunications devices provided to inmates of correctional facilities,might include apps that may be of particular use to an inmate, ingeneral, such as access to a legal research service, or of more specificinterest, such as providing an inmate nearing release, access toemployment searching apps or the like. Hence, such inmate media and/orcommunications devices may be used to help soon-to-be released inmatesto transition. For example, the inmate media and/or communicationsdevice may be used to communicate with a future employer, or the like.As such, inmate media and/or communications devices may be sponsored, orotherwise subsidized by organizations or companies, assisting with thetransition of inmates into society.

In certain embodiments, inbound calls to an external phone numberassociated with the resident may be redirected to an inbound callingaccount 134 of the resident. In certain embodiments, the external phonenumber associated with the resident may be provided by atelecommunications service provider, such as a wireless serviceprovider, that provides phone services to a mobile phone associated withthe resident, such as a mobile phone seized from the resident or amobile phone provided on behalf of the resident. In certain otherembodiments, the external phone number associated with the resident maybe a phone number of a calling account provided by a telecommunicationsservice provider, such as a VoIP provider, where this calling accountmay be provided on behalf of the resident.

In certain scenarios, the controlled-environment facility processingsystem 101 may configure the redirection of calls from an external phonenumber to an inbound calling account 134 by issuing a configurationrequest to a telecommunications service provider that provides theexternal phone number. In certain scenarios, the redirection request maybe a request for the telecommunications service provider to forward allcalls directed to the external phone number to be forwarded to theinbound calling account 134 of the resident that is maintained by theinbound call server 132. In certain embodiment, the redirection requestto the telecommunications service provider may be a request to port theexternal phone number to another telecommunications service provider,such as a telecommunications service provider that has been authorizedto redirect calls dialed to the external phone number to the inboundcall server 132.

In certain embodiments, the controlled-environment facility processingsystem 101 may be further configured to issue a request to thetelecommunications service provider to suspend the redirection of callsfrom one or more external phone numbers to an inbound calling account134. For instance, the controlled-environment facility processing system101 may issue a request to suspend call redirection based on a change inprivilege status associated with the resident, such as in response toone or more rule violations by the resident, or in response to thedetection of suspicious activity in the resident's use of thecommunication services provided by the controlled-environment facilityprocessing system 101. For instance, a request may be issued to suspendredirection of calls to an inbound calling account 134 in response to aresident being released or transferred to a different controlledenvironment facility.

Upon configuration of the redirection of calls from an external phonenumber, the resident may receive certain of the inbound calls directedto the external phone number. In certain scenarios, the external phonenumber that is redirected may be a phone number used by the resident atthe time of their incarceration or detainment. In scenarios where anindividual is expected to be a short-term resident of a controlledenvironment facility, this redirection capability provides friends,family members, and legal professionals the ability to utilize theindividual's existing phone number to provide assistance in obtainingthe release of the individual from the controlled environment facility.In scenarios where an individual is expected to be a long-term residentof a controlled environment facility, this redirection capabilityprovides the resident with opportunity to participate in visitationsessions, such as the previously described voice and video visitationsessions, using a pre-existing external phone number, thus allowing theresident to more easily maintain existing relationships with friends andfamily members.

In addition to providing certain visitation and communicationoperations, communication processing system 101 may attempt to ensurethat an inmate's calls, video conferences, online chats, etc. areperformed only with non-residents whose identities, devices, emailaddresses, phone numbers, etc. are listed in that inmate's PersonalAllowed Number (PAN) or Pre-Approved Contact (PAC) list.

Upon configuration of redirection of calls from an external phone numberassociated with a resident, certain calls to the external phone numbermay be forwarded to the inbound calling account 134 that is maintainedby the inbound call server 132 on behalf of the resident. The inboundcall server 132 may be configured to interoperate with an authenticatingserver 136 to restrict the inbound calls that are connected to theresident at the resident media and/or communications device 104 based onthe ability to identify the inbound caller as an individual authorizedto place inbound calls directly to the resident. For instance, theauthenticating server 136 may utilize a resident's PAN and PAC lists toidentify individuals that have been authorized to place inbound callsdirectly to the resident at the resident media and/or communicationsdevice 104. These same PAN and PAC list restrictions may be implementedin limiting the individuals that may connect calls to the resident bydialing the external phone number that is redirected to the resident'sinbound calling account 134. In this manner, inbound calls redirected tothe resident may be subjected to the described monitoring and recordingprocedures in order to detect any impermissible activity during a callthat has been redirected from an external phone number.

As described, in certain scenarios, the external phone number that isredirected to the inbound calling account 134 of a resident may beassociated with a mobile phone device that may have been seized duringthe arrest or detainment of the resident, or that may have been providedon behalf of the resident by a friend or family member. In certainembodiments, the controlled-environment facility processing system 101may provide the ability to access certain content stored on the mobilephone device. For instance, contact information stored on the mobilephone device may be accessed as part of the configuration of theredirection of calls to the mobile phone device. In certain embodiments,the contact information from a mobile phone device may be verifiedagainst the PAN and/or PAC lists of the resident such that contactinformation only for individuals or entities listed in the resident'sPAN or PAC lists may be downloaded from the mobile phone device andadded to a resident's profile that is maintained by thecontrolled-environment facility processing system 101. In certainembodiments, the resident's initial PAN and/or PAC lists may beconstructed using contact information downloaded from a mobile phonedevice. In certain embodiments, data in addition to contact information,such as photographs, may also be downloaded from the mobile phone deviceand made available to the resident.

Each inmate's PAN or PAC list may be stored, for example, in database115 maintained by Administration and Management System (AMS) 116. Inaddition to PAN or PAC list(s), AMS 116 may also store inmate orresident profile data (RPD), as well as visitation rules applicable toeach inmate. As an example, in the context of a correctional facility,database 115 may include information such as balances for inmate trustand calling accounts; trial schedule; conviction data; criminal record;sentencing data, such as time served, time remaining to be served, andrelease date; cell and cellmate assignments; inmate restrictions andwarnings; commissary order history; telephone call history; video and/oraudio communication recordings; known or suspected gang or criminalaffiliations; known or suspected affiliates, accomplices, or gangmembers; and any other information that may be relevant or useful tocorrectional facility staff to house and maintain inmates.

In some implementations, communication system 101 may be configured toperform call and/or video visitation monitoring operations configured tomonitor and or record calls and/or video visitations (e.g., aselectronic audio or video files). Such monitoring may be carried out todetect impermissible activity, such as attempts to initiate three-waycalls, and/or for investigative purposes, such as detection of keywordsrelated to criminal activity or the like. In scenarios wherecommunication system 101 is located within the controlled-environmentfacility, it may have direct access to AMS 116. In other embodiments,however, communication system 101 may be located remotely with respectto the controlled-environment facility, and access to AMS 116 may beobtained via a computer network such as, for example, network 110.

In many controlled-environment facilities, inmates are restricted fromcommunicating with persons outside of the controlled-environmentfacility using any device other than the system described in FIG. 1.Reasons for this include protection of persons outside of thecontrolled-environment facility from offensive, inappropriate, orillegal contact with an inmate. Additionally, these restrictions mayhelp to prevent inmates from directing further illegal activity withconspirators located outside of the controlled-environment facility,witness tampering, victim protection etc. Administrators of thecontrolled-environment facility may wish to limit the inmate's contactto parties on the inmate's PAN or PAC list.

In the illustrated environment inbound phone or video call processingsystem 130 may process inbound calls to intelligentcontrolled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevices 104. Inbound call processing system 130, may include inboundresident call server 132, which may include at least one processor andmemory coupled to the processor(s), wherein the memory is configured tostore program instructions executable by the processor(s) to cause thesystem(s) to execute one or more operations. For example, inbound callprocessing server 132 may be configured to host inbound calling accounts134 established by non-residents of a controlled-environment facility.Inbound call processing server 132 may also be configured to receiveinbound calls from the non-residents, such as calls from non-residentdevices 105, 106, 109, 112 or 113, and to route such inbound calls toauthenticating server 136, which may, as mentioned above be integratedinto inbound call processing server 132 in whole or part, or separatetherefrom. Likewise, inbound call processing server 132, and henceauthenticating server 136 may, in some embodiments be integrated intocontrolled-environment facility communications processing system 101,thereby integrating inbound calling system 130 intocontrolled-environment facility communications processing system 101.

The inbound call from the non-resident may be intended by thenon-resident to be directed to the controlled-environment facilityresident media and/or communications device (104) of the resident thenon-resident wishes to call. In such cases, inbound call processingserver 132 may intercept the inbound call. Additionally oralternatively, inbound resident call server 132 may host a central phonenumber, such as a toll free number, for calls directed tocontrolled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevices 104. In such embodiments, an inbound call from a non-residentdevice (105, 106, 109, 112 or 113) may be directed to the central phonenumber and inbound resident call server 132 may correspondingly beconfigured to accept requests from non-residents for calls intoresidents via their controlled-environment facility resident mediaand/or communications device (104).

Inbound call processing server 132 may also be configured to confirmthat the controlled-environment facility resident media and/orcommunications device (104) being called is active (i.e. available andreachable to receive the inbound call, etc.) or inactive (i.e. thecalled controlled-environment facility resident media and/orcommunications device is not active or not available, busy, etc.). Ifthe called controlled-environment facility resident media and/orcommunications device is active, inbound call processing server 132 mayconnect with the controlled-environment facility resident media and/orcommunications device (104), but if the controlled-environment facilityresident media and/or communications device is not active inbound callprocessing server 132 may inform the non-resident that the resident isnot available for the inbound call.

Inbound call processing system 130, may as also indicated, includeauthenticating server 136, which may also make use of at least oneprocessor and memory coupled to the processor(s), wherein the memory isconfigured to store program instructions executable by the processor(s)to cause the server(s) to execute one or more operations. For example,authenticating server 136 may be configured to authenticate that anon-resident is associated with an inbound calling account (134) andconfirm that the inbound calling account is associated with an AddressIdentifier (AID) number of the controlled-environment facility residentmedia and/or communications device (104) the non-resident has indicated(i.e. the device the non-resident has called or the device of theresident the non-resident has requested). This unique AID may be tied toa resident name and number and a Media Access Control (MAC) address ofthe subject controlled-environment facility resident media and/orcommunications device (104). The MAC address and AID are HardcodedAddresses (HCAs), which may also include a processor number, or the likefor uniquely identifying the subject controlled-environment facilityresident media and/or communications device (104). Further,authenticating server 136 may receive, via the controlled-environmentfacility resident media and/or communications device, a PIN entered bythe resident and which should be associated with the resident theinbound call is directed to. The PIN can be entered in any number ofways via device 104. For example, the PIN may be spoken and enteredusing speech recognition and/or it may be entered using a touch screenkeypad, or the like. Further, entry of the PIN may incorporate biometricverification into the entering of the PIN itself. For example, if thePIN is entered using the device's touchscreen, fingerprint recognitioncan be used to verify the typer's identity. Alternatively oradditionally, if the PIN is spoken for entry, voice recognition may beused to verify the speaker's identity, while speech recognition may beused to recognize the spoken numbers of the PIN themselves. Further, acamera of controlled-environment facility resident media and/orcommunications device 104 may be used during spoken or typed PIN entryto capture an image of the party entering the PIN, and the image may beused for facial recognition of the device user to (further) confirm theidentity of the user, which may be used for (further) correlation withthe PIN. Regardless, authenticating server 136 may verify that the PIN(and verified user) is associated with the AID number of thecontrolled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevice.

Inbound call processing server 132 may connect the non-resident inboundcall with the target controlled-environment facility resident mediaand/or communications device (104). In one example, proceeding with sucha connection may result from, as discussed above, server 136authenticating that the non-resident is associated with the inboundcalling account (134), confirming that the inbound calling account isassociated with an AID number of the controlled-environment facilityresident media and/or communications device (104) and/or verifying thatthe PIN is associated with the AID number of the controlled-environmentfacility resident media and/or communications device (104).

In certain call redirection embodiments, upon calling an external phonenumber that has been redirected to the inbound calling account of aresident of a controlled environment facility, the inbound caller may berequired to be authorized to place inbound calls to the resident. Incertain embodiments, inbound call server 132 may be further configuredto restrict the redirection of calls to the inbound calling account 134of a resident. For instance, the inbound call server 132 mayinteroperate with the authenticating server 136 to reject all redirectedcalls originating from inbound callers that cannot be authenticated asindividuals listed on a PAN or PAC list associated with the resident.Accordingly, a resident and/or an inbound caller may be required toregister the inbound caller for call redirection by providing sufficientinformation to identify the inbound caller as an individual listed on aPAN or PAC list of the resident. For instance, a friend or family memberof a resident may register as an inbound caller by providing a voiceprint or other identifying information that may be used to authenticatean inbound caller as an authorized friend or family member.

In certain embodiments, the inbound call server 132 may be configured toutilize IVR capabilities to provide an inbound caller with anexplanation that calls to the external phone number of the resident arebeing redirected to the inbound calling account of the resident at thecontrolled environment facility. In such scenarios, the IVR capabilitiesmay be further configured to provide the inbound caller withinstructions regarding the procedures required to become an authorizedinbound caller. In certain embodiments, the IVR capabilities may befurther configured to allow the inbound caller to provide sufficientidentifying information to authorize the inbound caller for redirectionof calls directly to the resident media and/or communications device. Incertain embodiments, text messaging may be used in place of, or inconjunction with, the IVR capabilities to provide inbound callers withinstructions for registering as an authorized caller.

In certain embodiments, information from the resident may be used toconfigure certain aspects of the provided call redirection. In certainscenarios, input from the resident may be provided as part of theauthorization to redirect calls from the external phone number to theinbound calling account 134 of the resident. For instance, the residentmay specify whether to reject inbound calls from all inbound callersthat are determined to be not in the resident's PAN and PAC list. Suchdeterminations may be made by the inbound call server 132 based on aphone number or other caller identification, such as a voice print,provided as part of the inbound call. In this manner, a resident mayutilize inbound calling for specific individuals that have been verifiedas authorized inbound callers, while not providing any indication toother inbound callers of the individual's status as a resident of thecontrolled environment facility. In certain scenarios, the resident mayspecify that, rather than rejecting inbound calls from unidentifiedinbound callers, the described IVR system may be utilized to provideunidentified inbound callers with instructions for registering as anauthorized inbound caller.

As described, in certain scenarios, a contact list may be downloadedfrom a mobile phone device associated with the resident. In suchscenarios, embodiment may provide a resident with the ability to specifythe rejection of all redirected calls originating from inbound callersthat are not identified in the downloaded contact list, while an attemptwill be made to authenticate all such known inbound callers identifiedin the contact list or, if the authentication of a known inbound calleris unsuccessful, such inbound calls may be provided with instructionsfor registering as an authorized inbound caller. In this manner, theresident may retain pre-existing relationships with known individualsidentified in the resident's downloaded contact list, while notdisclosing the resident's detainment to all other inbound callers to theexternal phone number that has been configured for redirection.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of example process 200 for inbound phone or videocalling to intelligent controlled-environment facility resident (e.g.inmate) media and/or communications devices, in accordance with someembodiments. Therein, a method for processing inbound calls tointelligent controlled-environment facility resident media and/orcommunications devices is illustrated. At 202 an inbound calling account(134) in accordance with a controlled-environment facilitycommunications system/network arrangement is established for anon-resident (e.g. non-inmate friend, family member, etc.) of thecontrolled-environment facility (e.g. correctional facility). At 204 aninbound call from the non-resident is received into an inbound residentcall system (130). This inbound call from the non-resident may beinitially be directed directly to the resident, i.e. to thecontrolled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevice (104), and may be (intercepted and) redirected to initially bereceived in the inbound resident call system (130) for processing inaccordance herewith. However, the inbound call from the non-resident maybe directed to a central phone number, such as a toll free number or thelike, for calls directed to controlled-environment facility residentmedia and/or communications devices (104). In such a case, variousmethod implementations may call for acceptance of a request at 206 fromthe non-resident for a call into the resident and/or resident'scontrolled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevice (104).

At 208 the inbound call may be routed to an authenticating server (136).This authenticating server may, as noted above, be separate from, orintegrated into or with an inbound resident call server (132), which inturn, may a or may not be a part of the controlled-environment facilitycommunications processing system (101). At 210 the non-resident isauthenticated, such as by the authenticating server (136), as associatedwith the inbound calling account (134) being accessed. Theauthenticating server (136), or the like, may then confirm at 212 thatthe inbound calling account is associated with an AID number of thecontrolled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevice (104) being called. Various implementations of the presentsystems and methods may also confirm that the called resident (e.g. theresident associated with the controlled-environment facility residentmedia and/or communications device to which the inbound call isdirected) is allowed to communicate with the calling non-resident at214, such as by determining if the non-resident is on a PAN and/or PAClist associated with the resident.

The inbound resident call system (130) may confirm that thecontrolled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevice (104) is active, at 216. If the controlled-environment facilityresident media and/or communications device (104) is found to be activeat 216, the inbound resident call system may connect with thecontrolled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevice at 218. However, in response to a failure at 216 to confirm thatthe controlled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevice (104) is active (i.e. the called controlled-environment facilityresident media and/or communications device is not active or notavailable, busy, etc.) the inbound resident call system (130), or thelike, may inform the non-resident, at 220, that the resident is notavailable for the inbound call. At 222 the authenticating server (136),or the like receives a PIN associated with a resident the inbound callis directed to. This personal identification number may be sent via thecontrolled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevice (104) being called by the non-resident. This PIN may be verifiedat 224, such as by the authenticating server, as being associated withthe AID number of the controlled-environment facility resident mediaand/or communications device (104) being called (and providing the PIN).As noted this PIN may be entered in any number of ways. Additionally,such entry may, incorporate biometric verification into this entering ofthe PIN. For example, the PIN may be entered using a touchscreen of thecontrolled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevice (104), such that fingerprint recognition can be used to verifythe device user's identity, which may be matched to the PIN.Alternatively or additionally, the PIN may be spoken into a microphoneof controlled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevice (104) to be entered. In such entry, speech recognition may beused to recognize the spoken numbers of the PIN, while voice recognitionmay be used on the spoken PIN to verify the speaker's identity, whichmay be matched to the PIN digits. Moreover, the camera of thecontrolled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevice may be used, such as while the PIN is typed or spoken to capturean image of the speaker/user for use in facial recognition of the deviceuser to (further) confirm the identity of the user for correlation withthe PIN.

At 226 the non-resident inbound call may be connected with thecontrolled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevice (104), by the inbound resident call system (130), such as, as aresult of authenticating that the non-resident is associated with theinbound calling account (134) at 210, confirming that the inboundcalling account is associated with an AID number of thecontrolled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevice at 212, confirming that the calling non-resident is allowed tocommunicate with the resident at 214 and/or verifying that the personalidentification number is associated with the AID number of thecontrolled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevice at 224.

In accordance with various implementations of the present systems andmethods a flat fee, subscription fee, time-based fee or the like may becharged for the inbound call and decremented at 228 from the inboundcalling account (134) established at 202 and associated with thenon-resident. For example, a flat fee, per-minute fee, or the like, maybe charged for the inbound call. Additionally or alternatively, (a)subscription fees may be periodically (e.g. monthly) charged for inboundcalls by the non-resident to one or more residents, beginning, such as,when the non-resident's inbound calling account is established at 202.Such fees may be decremented from an account associated with thenon-resident, which may also be established at such time. Further, theconnected call may be monitored and/or recorded, such as forinvestigative purposes at 230. For example, such monitoring may becarried out for detection of impermissible activity such as attempts toinitiate three-way calls, and/or monitored for keywords of the like,such as for investigative purposes. Call recordings may be stored forlater review for similar investigative purposes. Additionally oralternatively the connected call may be tracked, such as throughcreation of a communication detail record (CDR) during and/or after thecall at 232.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of another implementation of an example process(300) for inbound phone or video calling to intelligentcontrolled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevices, in accordance with some embodiments. Therein, a non-resident(e.g. non-inmate), such as a friend or family member of acontrolled-environment facility resident (e.g. inmate), may, at 302access a website, such as may be hosted by the controlled-environmentfacility and/or an associated entity such as a communications providerfor the controlled-environment facility, or the like. At 304 adetermination may be made as to whether the non-resident is registeredto make inbound calls. If not, the non-resident may register at 306 tomake inbound calls, such as by selecting a facility, a resident andchoosing a call plan, establishing and funding an inbound callingaccount (134), and/or the like. The non-resident may then enter personaland/or identification information at 308. At 310 the non-resident mayselect the facility and resident that they wish to call and at 312 thenon-resident may click a webpage button to initiate the call.

Alternatively, or in situations where the non-resident has alreadyestablished an inbound calling account (134), the non-resident may calla central number, such as a toll-free number, at 314. The presentinbound calling system (130) may answer the call at 316 and at 318 IVRfunctionality associated with the inbound call processing system (130)may prompt the non-resident for their identification information. At 320the IVR may prompt the non-resident for information about the residentbeing called, such as identification information, to initiate the call.

Whether the inbound call is initiated via the website (steps 302 through312) or through a call placed into the system (steps 314 through 320)the inbound calling system verifies that the rules allow calls to theselected resident at 322, such as in the manner discussed above withrespect to PAN and PAC lists. At 324 a determination is made as towhether the resident's communication device is online (i.e. whether theresident is on his or her resident communication media device (104)). Ifit is determined at 324 that the resident is using his or her residentcommunication media device (104), the inbound calling system (130)directs the call to the resident's communication media tablet device(104) at 326. Thereupon, a phone application program (app) rings on theresident's tablet (104) at 328. At 330 the resident answers the call,and at 332 the inbound call system (130) verifies the resident'sidentity by requiring a PIN, and/or verifying authentication, such asthrough voice recognition, key pad, touchpad, fingerprint or otherbiometric, non-biometric, or other authentication methods. For example,the PIN may be entered by speaking it into the microphone of thecontrolled-environment facility resident media and/or communicationsdevice (104), by entering it on a keypad displayed on the touch screenof the device, and/or the like. This PIN entry process itself mayincorporate biometric verification. For example, when the PIN is enteredusing the touchscreen, fingerprint recognition can be used to verify theuser's identity. Alternatively or additionally, a spoken PIN may notonly be subjected to speech recognition to recognize the spoken numbersof the PIN, but also to voice recognition to verify the speaker'sidentity. Further, the camera of controlled-environment facilityresident media and/or communications device (104) may be used duringspoken or typed PIN entry as part of facial recognition of the deviceuser to (further) confirm the identity of the user for correlation withthe PIN.

A determination is made at 334, such as by the inbound calling system(130), as to whether recording is enabled for the call, such as may berequired for security reasons, investigative purposes, and/or the like,particularly with respect to the identity of the resident and/or thenon-resident. If it is determined at 334 that the call is to berecorded, the inbound calling system (130) starts recording the call at336. Additionally or alternative, the call may be monitored, such as at336 for impermissible activity such as attempts at three-way calling, orthe like, and/or for keywords, or the like for investigative purposes.Similarly the recording may be stored for later review for suchinvestigative purposes. Regardless, at 338 the inbound calling system(130) joins the resident and non-resident for the call to take place.Once the call terminates at 340 a CDR may be generated at 342 foraccounting, security, investigative, and/or other purposes, and anyrecording of the call may be linked thereto.

Embodiments of the present systems and methods for inbound calls tointelligent controlled-environment facility resident media and/orcommunications devices (104), as described herein, may be implemented orexecuted, at least in part, by one or more computer systems. One suchcomputer system is illustrated in FIG. 4. In various embodiments,computer system 400 may be a server, a mainframe computer system, aworkstation, a network computer, a desktop computer, a laptop, a tabletcomputing device, media player, or the like. For example, in some cases,computer 400 may implement one or more steps of example processes 200and/or 300 described above with respect to FIGS. 1 through 3, and/or acomputer system such as computer system 400 may be used as, or as partof, one or more of controlled environment facility communicationprocessing system 101, intelligent controlled-environment facilityresident media and/or communications device 104, inbound call processingsystem 130, inbound resident call server 132, authenticating server 136,and/or the like. In various embodiments two or more of these computersystems may be configured to communicate with each other in any suitableway, such as, for example, via a network, including via a local areanetwork, and/or using wireless functionality.

As illustrated, example computer system 400 includes one or moreprocessors 410 coupled to a system memory 420 via an input/output (I/O)interface 430. Example computer system 400 further includes a networkinterface 440 coupled to I/O interface 430, and one or more input/outputdevices 450, such as video device(s) 460 (e.g., a camera), audiodevice(s) 470 (e.g., a microphone and/or a speaker), and display(s) 480.Computer system 400 may also include a cursor control device (e.g., amouse or touchpad), a keyboard, etc. Multiple input/output devices 450may be present in computer system 400 or may be distributed on variousnodes of computer system 400. In some embodiments, similar input/outputdevices may be separate from computer system 400 and may interact withone or more nodes of computer system 400 through a wired or wirelessconnection, such as over network interface 440.

In various embodiments, computer system 400 may be a single-processorsystem including one processor 410, or a multi-processor systemincluding two or more processors 410 (e.g., two, four, eight, or anothersuitable number). Processors 410 may be any processor capable ofexecuting program instructions. For example, in various embodiments,processors 410 may be general-purpose or embedded processorsimplementing any of a variety of instruction set architectures (ISAs),such as the x86, POWERPC®, ARM®, SPARC®, or MIPS® ISAs, or any othersuitable ISA. In multi-processor systems, each of processors 410 maycommonly, but not necessarily, implement the same ISA. Also, in someembodiments, at least one processor 410 may be a graphics processingunit (GPU) or other dedicated graphics-rendering device.

System memory 420 may be configured to store program instructions and/ordata accessible by processor 410. In various embodiments, system memory420 may be implemented using any suitable memory technology, such asstatic random access memory (SRAM), synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM),nonvolatile/Flash-type memory, or any other type of memory. Asillustrated, program instructions and data implementing certainoperations, such as, for example, those described in connection withFIGS. 1 through 3, above, may be stored within system memory 420 asprogram instructions 425 and data storage 435, respectively. In otherembodiments, program instructions and/or data may be received, sent orstored upon different types of computer-accessible media or on similarmedia separate from system memory 420 or computer system 400. Generallyspeaking, a computer-readable medium may include any tangible ornon-transitory storage media or memory media such as magnetic or opticalmedia—e.g., disk or CD/DVD-ROM coupled to computer system 400 via I/Ointerface 430, Flash memory, random access memory (RAM), etc. Programinstructions and data stored on a tangible computer-accessible medium innon-transitory form may further be transmitted by transmission media orsignals such as electrical, electromagnetic, or digital signals, whichmay be conveyed via a communication medium such as a network and/or awireless link, such as may be implemented via network interface 440.

In some embodiments, I/O interface 430 may be configured to coordinateI/O traffic between processor 410, system memory 420, and any peripheraldevices in the device, including network interface 440 or otherperipheral interfaces, such as input/output devices 450. In someembodiments, I/O interface 430 may perform any suitable protocol, timingor other data transformations to convert data signals from one component(e.g., system memory 420) into a format usable by another component(e.g., processor 410). In some embodiments, I/O interface 430 mayinclude support for devices attached through various types of peripheralbuses, such as a variant of the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI)bus standard or the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard, for example. Insome embodiments, the function of I/O interface 430 may be split intotwo or more separate components, such as a north bridge and a southbridge, for example. In addition, in some embodiments, some or all ofthe functionality of I/O interface 430, such as an interface to systemmemory 420, may be incorporated into processor 410.

Network interface 440 may be configured to allow data to be exchangedbetween computer system 400 and other devices attached to a network,such as other computer systems, or between nodes of computer system 400.In various embodiments, network interface 440 may support communicationvia wired or wireless general data networks, such as any suitable typeof Ethernet network, for example; via telecommunications/telephonynetworks such as analog voice networks or digital fiber communicationsnetworks; via storage area networks such as Fiber Channel SANs, or viaany other suitable type of network and/or protocol.

As shown in FIG. 4, memory 420 may include program instructions 425,configured to implement certain embodiments described herein, and datastorage 435, comprising various data accessible by program instructions425. In an embodiment, program instructions 425 may include softwareelements corresponding to one or more of the various embodimentsillustrated in the above figures. For example, program instructions 425may be implemented in various embodiments using any desired programminglanguage, scripting language, or combination of programming languagesand/or scripting languages (e.g., C, C++, C#, JAVA®, JAVASCRIPT®, PERL®,etc.). Data storage 435 may include data that may be used in theseembodiments. In other embodiments, other or different software elementsand data may be included.

A person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that computersystem 400 is merely illustrative and is not intended to limit the scopeof the disclosure described herein. In particular, the computer systemand devices may include any combination of hardware or software that canperform the indicated operations. Additionally, the operations performedby the illustrated components may, in some embodiments, be performed byfewer components or distributed across additional components. Similarly,in other embodiments, the operations of some of the illustratedcomponents may not be provided and/or other additional operations may beavailable. Accordingly, systems and methods described herein may beimplemented or executed with other computer system configurations.

Although the present invention and its advantages have been described indetail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions andalterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, thescope of the present application is not intended to be limited to theparticular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture, compositionof matter, means, methods and steps described in the specification. Asone of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from thedisclosure of the present invention, processes, machines, manufacture,compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps, presently existing orlater to be developed that perform substantially the same function orachieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodimentsdescribed herein may be utilized according to the present invention.Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include within theirscope such processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter,means, methods, or steps.

What is claimed is:
 1. An inbound call system for providing inboundcalls to an inmate media and/or communications device operated by aninmate of a controlled-environment facility, the system comprising: aninbound inmate call server configured to: receive a call originatingfrom an inbound caller dialing a called number, wherein the receivedcall is redirected from a telecommunications service provider to aninbound calling account associated with the inmate; and connect theinbound caller with the inmate media and/or communications device; andan authenticating server configured to: confirm the inbound caller isassociated with an address identifier of the inmate media and/orcommunications device; receive, via the inmate media and/orcommunications device, data for verifying the identity of the inmate;and verify the identity of the inmate using the received data; confirmthe identified inmate is associated with the address identifier of theinmate media and/or communications device.
 2. The system of claim 1,wherein the authenticating server is further configured to: confirm theinmate is authorized to receive inbound calls redirected from the callednumber.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the authenticating server isfurther configured to: reject a redirected call originating from aninbound caller that is not listed in a preapproved contact listassociated with the inmate.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein theinbound inmate call server is further configured to: provide theunidentified inbound caller with instructions for registering as aninbound caller listed in the preapproved contact list associated withthe inmate.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the called number isassigned to a mobile phone device that the inmate is prohibited fromusing.
 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the called number is assignedto the mobile phone device by the telecommunications service provider.7. The system of claim 1, wherein the call originating from the inboundcaller is received by the telecommunication service provider andredirected to the inbound calling account.
 8. A non-transitorycomputer-readable storage device having program instructions storedthereon that, upon execution by an inbound call system operable toprovide inbound calls to an inmate media and/or communications deviceoperated by an inmate of a controlled-environment facility, wherein theprogram instructions cause the inbound call system to: receive a calloriginating from an inbound caller dialing a called number, wherein thereceived call is redirected from a telecommunications service providerto an inbound calling account associated with the inmate; confirm theinbound caller is associated with an address identifier of the inmatemedia and/or communications device; receive, via the inmate media and/orcommunications device, data for verifying the identity of the inmate;verify the identity of the inmate using the received data; confirm theidentified inmate is associated with the address identifier of theinmate media and/or communications device; and connect the inboundcaller with the confirmed inmate operating the inmate media and/orcommunications device.
 9. The computer-readable storage device of claim8, wherein the program instructions further cause the one or morecommunications systems to: confirm the inmate is authorized to receiveinbound calls redirected from the called number.
 10. Thecomputer-readable storage device of claim 8, wherein the programinstructions further cause the one or more communications systems to:reject a redirected call originating from an inbound caller that is notlisted in a preapproved contact list associated with the inmate.
 11. Thecomputer-readable storage device of claim 10, wherein the programinstructions further cause the one or more communications systems to:provide the unidentified inbound caller with instructions forregistering as an inbound caller listed in the preapproved contact listassociated with the inmate.
 12. The computer-readable storage device ofclaim 8, wherein the called number is assigned to a mobile phone devicethat the inmate is prohibited from using.
 13. The computer-readablestorage device of claim 12, wherein the called number is assigned to themobile phone device by the telecommunications service provider.
 14. Thecomputer-readable storage device of claim 8, wherein the calloriginating from the inbound caller is received by the telecommunicationservice provider and redirected to the inbound calling account.
 15. Amethod for providing inbound calls to an inmate media and/orcommunications device operated by an inmate of a controlled-environmentfacility, the method comprising: receiving a call originating from aninbound caller dialing a called number, wherein the received call isredirected from a telecommunications service provider to an inboundcalling account associated with the inmate; confirming the inboundcaller is associated with an address identifier of the inmate mediaand/or communications device; receiving, via the inmate media and/orcommunications device, data for verifying the identity of the inmate;verifying the identity of the inmate using the received data; confirmingthe identified inmate is associated with the address identifier of theinmate media and/or communications device; and connecting the inboundcaller with the confirmed inmate operating the inmate media and/orcommunications device.
 16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:confirming the inmate is authorized to receive inbound calls redirectedfrom the called number.
 17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:rejecting a redirected call originating from an inbound caller that isnot listed in a preapproved contact list associated with the inmate. 18.The method of claim 17, further comprising: providing the unidentifiedinbound caller with instructions for registering as an inbound callerlisted in the preapproved contact list associated with the inmate. 19.The method of claim 15, wherein the called number is assigned to amobile phone device that the inmate is prohibited from using.
 20. Themethod of claim 19, wherein the called number is assigned to the mobilephone device by the telecommunications service provider.